NASA Delays the Spacewalk and fixes the Space Station Antenna

NASA has postponed indefinitely a spacewalk scheduled for Tuesday to fix a damaged antenna on the International Space Station, citing a “debris notification” it received for the orbiting research laboratory. Two American astronauts were set to leave the space station at 7:10 a.m. Eastern time (12:10 GMT) to begin their job, despite a modest risk posed by debris from a Russian anti-satellite missile test earlier this month officials.

However, around five hours before the scheduled start time,announced on Twitter that the spacewalk had been postponed for the time being. The space station has received a debris notification from NASA. Teams have chosen to postpone the Nov. 30 spacewalk until further information is available due to a lack of chance to analyze the danger to the astronauts comprehensively. It’s unclear how close the debris got to the space station, which is about 250 miles (402 kilometers) above the Earth, or if it was related to the Russian missile launch.

NASA TV had intended to broadcast live video of astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Kayla Brown’s 6-1/2-hour “extravehicular activity,” or EVA, mission. Marshburn, 61, a medical doctor and former flight surgeon with two prior journeys to orbit, will make his sixth spacewalk. In contrast, Barron, 34, a U.S. Navy submarine officer and nuclear engineer, will make her first mission for NASA. The goal is to replace a defective S-band radio communications antenna assembly stowed outside the space station for more than 20 years with a new spare.

Marshburn was supposed to work with Barron while positioned at the end of a robotic arm controlled from within the station by German astronaut Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency, with assistance from NASA crewmate Raja Chari, according to plans.